Cubs to play Arizona on Wednesday

Jeff Vorva

Sunday

Sep 30, 2007 at 12:01 AMSep 30, 2007 at 3:09 AM

The Cubs closed the 2007 regular season with an ugly 8-4 loss to Cincinnati, a game in which manager Lou Piniella used 24 players, including eight pitchers, before a Great American Ball Park crowd of 32,620.

Cubs clubhouse man Tim Hellmann is no Glen Campbell.

But while his slightly off-kilter version of “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” likely won’t have record companies giving him a call or beating down his door, the singing was sweet music to the Cubs’ collective ears.

The Cubs closed the 2007 regular season with an ugly 8-4 loss to Cincinnati, a game in which manager Lou Piniella used 24 players, including eight pitchers, before a Great American Ball Park crowd of 32,620.

The big news came about 20 minutes after the game. With all of the scenarios that could have played out Sunday, it was possible the Cubs would have had to go home Sunday night and wait for a potential tiebreaker game to be played tonight before knowing the identity of their first-round playoff foe.

That would mean the North Siders’ wouldn’t head to their playoff destination until Tuesday morning.

Catcher Jason Kendall, who said that would be cool for the fans, noted Sunday morning, “It wouldn’t be too good for us.”

But with Florida beating the New York Mets, the Cubs know they will be playing Arizona and headed to Phoenix on Sunday night. They will relax today and hold a workout Tuesday at Chase Field before opening play Wednesday in the National League Division Series.

Times have yet to be determined for the games in the best-of-5 series.

The Cubs have the comfort of knowing their playoff opponent, against whom they were 2-4 during the regular season.

“They played us tough and we had some close games with them,” Piniella said of Arizona. “They have a good, young team. They have good pitching. We feel we can go in there and win.”

With no real dominant club in the NL, Piniella believes his team could make it to the World Series.

“We’ve got as good a chance as anybody else,” Piniella said. “We’ll have to pitch well and get some timely hitting. We’re built for the short term, as well as the long term. We’ve got a veteran team here, basically. We have some pitchers in the rotation that can keep you in ballgames.

“What it amounts to is how well we hit.”

Alfonso Soriano led off Sunday’s game with a home run, his 12th leadoff homer this season. He had seven leadoff homers in September among his club-record 14 long balls for the month. Soriano finished with a team-best 33 homers.

Starting pitcher Ted Lilly pitched two scoreless innings in a tuneup for his scheduled start in Game 2 of the NLDS.

“I wanted to stay in a little longer, but I understood what they were doing,” Lilly said.

Jason Marquis, who could be the pitcher in Game 4 (if necessary) of the NLDS, gave up four runs in the third. Ryan Dempster allowed four more runs in the fourth.

There is speculation Marquis could be left off the playoff roster after struggling in the past couple of weeks, but Piniella wasn’t talking about specific roster issues.

“He hasn’t pitched well the last two or three times out,” Piniella said. “But today? I’m not concerned about that.”

Daryle Ward, who was slowed by a sprained left thumb, pinch hit Sunday and struck out. He will take batting practice Tuesday before the Cubs determine his fate in regard to the playoff roster.